DailyCoin’s Crypto Memes of the Week #10 – A Journey Into the Philosophy of Absurdism

Life is absurd and we are all Sisyphi here.

The main question of absurdist philosophy lies in the disharmony between the human inner strive to find an inherently valuable meaning of life and the meaninglessness of the world we live in. The question is everlasting but intractable and even unsolvable to some extent. This is an oxymoron because the human brain is programmed to process the identification of significance; the connection between a word as a language unit and its meaning is a fundamental trait of human nature.

On the other hand, a word is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, the word “blockchain” has completely different semantic meanings for a developer, crypto hodler, NFT artists, or absurdist:

The Myth of Crypto Sisyphus

One of the most famous absurdist books became Albert Camus’ paper with the eponymous name to the well-known Greek myth. The main dilemma of the story permeates throughout the narration of the philosopher. Sisyphus’ task of pushing a boulder up a mountain over and over again seems meaningless but the conclusion of the essay is

"The struggle itself ... is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy".

The depiction of such work to the power of infinity can be observed in many modern jobs. Even if anyone thinks crypto may save them from a boring office job, just look in the mirror:

Three Ways of Resolving the Absurd Dilemma

The absurdist community figured out three possible ways to resist the dilemma of absurdism. The first one is escaping existence, which was disregarded by Camus because it doesn’t solve the problem. The second way is spiritual: belief in a transcendent idea.

The third solution is to accept the absurd. This is the path for those who want to achieve the highest level of freedom. However, it’s not that easy. Camus strongly believed that this way included both rebellion against the absurd as well as accepting its unstoppable power.

This literally means we, people, need to accept human nature while still opposing it. Sounds like one more oxymoron. On the other hand, isn’t it the same when a person buys high and sells low knowing it has to be vice versa?

Absurdism Partially Derives from Nihilism

Nihilism is one more strain in existentialist philosophy. A nihilist tends to reject some of the fundamental aspects of human life, such as values, morality, or objective truth.

Values are meaningless? An NFT of Invisible Rock #91 costs 888.888 ETH! Perhaps most NFT holders are nihilists. How do we explain this dissonance between objects and values? It is nothing more than the irony of life.

The most popular nihilistic character of today is Rick Sanchez from the Rick and Morty Netflix series. To be more precise, he’s a representative of cosmic nihilism, a branch of philosophical study. Rick believes in no foundation for human purpose, which is represented in his actions and language.

We warned you about the language!

Existentialism is the Source of Absurdism

In contrast to nihilism, the fundamental idea of existentialism is that existence precedes essence. This literally means that things are born without a meaning and only then they obtain the purpose. Moreover, the essence of things is highly subjective.

This is the Rubicon, beyond which things can acquire opposite meanings. Just take a look at animal coins. Aren’t their meanings opposite to what crypto is supposed to be? Crypto is about technology and decentralization – meme coins are about hype and quick profits. It’s a twist in values.